The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-11-23
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Concord and Discord."

TEXT: "Rho laid the cornerstone thereof,
rhen the morning stars sang togetherf"-
JOB xxxviii., q, Z.
We have all seen the ceremony at the lay
ing of the cornerstone of church, asylum or
Masonic temple. Into the hollow or the
stone were placed scrolls of history and I'M
prrtaEt documents to be suggestive II one or
two hundred wears after the building should
be DESTROYED 10y fire or torn down. We re-
menember the silver trowel or iron hammer
that smote the square piece of granite INTO
sanctity. We remember some Teneraole man
who presided, welding the trowel or nam
mer We remember also the music as the
choir stood on the scattered stones anu
timber of the building about to be con-
structed. The leaves of the NOTEBOOKS nut
tered in the wind and were turned over with
a great ruStling, ami we remember now the
bass. baritone, nor, contralto and soprano
voices commingled They had for many days
been rehearsing the special programme, that
it might be worthy of the cornerstone laying
In my text the poet OF w calls us 20
grander ceremony-thel laying OF the founGa- nSi
ton of this great temple OF world. Inc
corner stone was a block of light and the
trowsl was of celestial crystal. All about
and on the embankmentS OF cloud stood the
angelic choriSterS. unrollng their hGrettos
of overture, and other worlds clapped shln'
ing cymbals while the ceremony Went on,
and Gol, the architect, by stroke OF Hght
after stroke of light, dedIcatet TINS greas
cathedral of a world, with mountains Tor
pillars. and sky for freScoed ceiling, and
towering fields for floors, and sunrise and
midnight aurora for upholstery. " Who LAID
the corner stone thereof, when the morning
stars sang together"
The fact is that the whole universe was
complete cadence, an unbroken dlthyramo, q
musical portfolio. The great sheet OF I'M
mensity had been spread out, and written on
il were the stars, thu smaller of them minims,
the larger of them sustained notes. The
meteorS marked the staccato passages, the
whole heavens a gamut, with all sounds, into
nations and modulatonS, the space between
the worlds a musical interval, trembling OF
stellar light a quaver, the thunder pass
clef, the wind among trees treble clef'
That is the way God made al things, aper-
feet harmony. =,
But one day harp etring snapped in the
great orchestra. One day voice sounded
ont of tune. One day discord, harsh and
terrific, grated upon the glorious antiphony.
It was sin that made the dissonance, and that
harsh discord has been sounding through the
centuries ALI the work OF Christians, and
philauthropists, and reformers Of all ages, is
to stop that discord and get all things back
into the perfect harnony which was heard at
the laying Of the cornerstone when the
morning stars sang together. Before get
through, if am divinely helped, Will make
it plain that sin is discord and Righteousness
is harmony.
That things in general are out of tune is as
plain as to musicians ear Is the unhappy
tral rendering.
The worlds health out Of tune: Weak lung
and the atmosphere in collision, disordered
eve and MONDAY light in quarrel, rheumatic
limb and damp weather in struggle, neural
gias, and pneumonias, and consumptlons,
. and epilepsies in hocks swoop upon neighbor-
hoods and cities. Where you find one person
with sound throat, and keen eyesight, and
alert ear, and easy respiration, and regular
: pulsation, and supple limb, and prime diges,,
lion and steady nerves, you find hundred
who have to be very careful because this, or
that, or the other physical function Is dlsor-
-dered.
The human intellect out of tune: The
Judgment wrongly swerved, or the memory
leaEy, or the will weak, or the temper in
iammable, and the we'll balanced mind excep-
tional Domestic life out of tune: Not only
here and there conjugal outbreak Of incom-
patibility of temper through the divorce
courts, or filial outbreak about fathers
will through the Surrogates Court, or case
of wife beating or husband poisoning through
the criminal courts, but thousands of fam
Society out of tune: Labor and capital;
their hands on each others throats. Spirit Of
caste keeping those down in the social scale
in a struggle to get up, and putting those
who are up in anxiety lest they have to come
down. No wonder the old pianoforte of So
.ciety is all out Of tune, when hypocrisy, and
lying, and subterfuge, and double dealing,
yenge have for 5000 years being banging
away at the keys and stamping the pedals
On all sides there is perpetual shlpwreck
of har1nonies. Nations in discord. Without
realizing it, so wrong is the feeling OF nation
for nation that the symbols chosen are fierce
and destructive In this country, where our
skies are full of robins and doves and morn
ing larks, we have for our national symbol the
fierce and filthy eagle, as immoral bird as
can be found in all the pathological cata-
logues. In Great Britain, where they have
lambs and fallow deer, their symbol is the
merciless lion. In Russia, where from BE-
tween her frozen north and blooming south
all kindly beasts dwell, they choose the growl-
ing bear; and in the worlds heraldry favor
ite figure is the dragon, which is q winged
serpent, ferocious and dreadful And so fond
is the world of contention that we climb out
through the heavens and baptize one of the
other planets with the spirit OF battle, and
call it Mars, after the god of war. and we give
to the eighth sign of the zodiac the name
Of the scorpion, a creature which is chiefly
celebrated for its deaily sting. But. after
all, these symbols are expressive Of the
way nation feels toward nation. Discord
wide as the continent and bridging the seas.
suppose you have noticed how warmly in
love dry goods stores are with other dry
goods stores, and how highly grocerymen
think of the sugars of the grocerymen on the
same block. And in what eulogistic way
allopathic and homeopathic doctors speak of
each other and how ministers will sometimes
put ministers on that beautiful cooking in
strument which the English call spit, an
iron roller with spikes on it, and turned by a
crank before hot fire, and then if the min
ister being roasted cries out against it, the
men who are turning him say: Hush,
glory Of God and the good Of your soul, and
you must be quiet while we close the service
with:
"Blest be the ties that binds
Our hearts in Christian love-"
The earth is diame.ered and circumfer-
enced with discord, and the music that was
rendered at the laying of the worlds corner
stone, when themorning stars sang together,
Is not heard now; and though here and there,
from this and that part of society, and from
this and that part of the earth, there comes
up a thrilling solo of love, or a warble OF
worship, or a sweet duet of patience, they
are drowned out by discord that shakes
the earth.
Paul says "The whole creation groaneth; "
and while the nightingale, and the wood
lark, and the canary, and the plover, some
times sing so sweety that their notes have
been written out in musical notation, and il
is found that the cuckoo sings in the key Of
D, and that the cormoranr is basso in the
winged choir. yet sportsman's gun and the
autumnal blast often leave them ruffied ant
bleeding, or dead in meadow or forest Pau
was right for the groan in nature drown: